This course was produced as an output of the Technical Cooperation Project RAS 5057: “Implementing Best Practices of Food Irradiation for Sanitary and Phytosanitary Purposes”. It was designed for different types of audiences, ranging from members of the general public interested in scientific and technical information about the basics of the food irradiation process to academics, regulators, users of the process and operators of irradiation facilities who may use this course as training material. The number of lessons offered depends on the selected category. Taking all the lessons will prepare for compliance to international standards such as ISO 14470.

This course is provided free of charge and is meant for self-study. There are no pre-requirements for accessing the course. Accessing this resource only requires self-registering for this platform. The project strives to provide constant update and the addition of resources.

The course presents the procedures required to ensure that released sterile fruit flies be of the best possible quality and that the sterile fly release densities are adequate to the needs of area-wide SIT programmes. This course is aimed at facilitating the transfer of harmonized and state of the art technology to FAO and IAEA Member States that want to embark on area-wide action programmes that use SIT. The course covers the post-production phase of SIT application including the following topics: Packing, transportation, long distance shipment, handling, emergence and holding at release centre, preparation of adults for release, aerial sterile fly release, ground sterile fly release, sterile fly release densities, GPS-GIS support to sterile release programmes, interpretation of sterile fly recapture, design of fruit fly packing, holding, chilling and release centre. The course will be organized in modules by specific topics and will include a module for evaluating students proficiency.